Group 5

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Totalitarianism
Crystal, Angela, Ariel, Stacie, & Chris

Military / armed forces
  • The military itself has much influence especially on the national security and in foreign countries.
  • People will feel more secure from foreign attacks when the military is more involved in our daily lives.
  • Military security is one of the best in the nation.
  • However, the military has had their opinions voiced about war itself and decisions whether to intervene.
  • In order to control how much of these voices get exposed to people and influence their opinions, maximum control is needed in minimizing influential opinions.
  • It is imperative in providing a sense of security without causing biased opinions about our foreign interventions and relations.

Newspapers
  • The newspaper helps the country get to know what is going on in America, in our communities, and in other countries.
  • If we control this, we will be able to tell only what is necessary and not anything that will create an uproar amongst the people.
  • It will be a major way to influence people's opinions the way we want it whether it is in politics, for a particular advertisement, sports, etc.

Police departments
  • Controlling negative perceptions on police officers can help create a more uniformed society.
    • A lot of people get upset at the officer who has given them tickets and it creates a division between civilians and authorities.
    • Closing this gap can help the figurehead lead our totalitarian society easier.
  • In turn, controlling how often an officer gets to write up tickets will abate civilians' disdains for policemen.

Hospitals / doctors
  • In light of the Health Care Reform debates, we should control the quality of treatment to those who are not financially apt. Everyone deserves to receive treatment emotionally as well as physically, even for the homeless.
  • In order to do so, if we could start building more mini-hospitals and support them financially, it can be used to help patients with minor problems as cost efficiently as possible.
  • This will also help create more jobs for the economy.
  • Building more hospitals will not only open up jobs for doctors, nurses, and EMTS, but also construction workers, janitors and more.

Technology
  • Technology is a great influence especially in our generation and future generations.
  • Everything people do is somehow related to technology (i.e. FBI, hospitals, military, government, gas stations, advertisers, fashion designers, authors, communication companies, pilots, etc.)
  • Because media is using sophisticated and new technology to promote sexual profanities, violent scenes, unrealistic bodily images, etc, it influences the young generation of America. Hence, because children imitate what they see, they are imitating what they observe.
  • Controlling what is exposed through technology will unify people more without creating tensions, competitions, and debates about the morality of advancing technologies.

Government agencies
  • The government is powerful because it controls people through laws, regulations,
    grants, entitlements, and tax credits. (2)
  • It also influences about eighty-nine percent of children through the public school systems. (2)
  • “It is important that people who are to live and work together shall have a common
    mind, a like heritage of purpose, religious ideals, love of country, duty, and
    wisdom to guide and inspire them," says the American Citizens Handbook. (2)
  • If we can control people to have similar beliefs then it will be easier to get people to agree with us on new proposed ideas.
  • If people are disagreeing with us on a decision, it will create arguments, debates, and possibly rebellion groups.

Oil/gas companies
  • Oil, specifically speaking, petroleum oil, aids the vehicles' engines to work smoothly, heats the buildings, fuels manufacturing companies, and creates gasoline. (1)
  • The United States alone consumes about eighty-five percent of petroleum.(1)
  • Controlling this can mean controlling the amount of communication we get from driving vehicles to places, heat we get during the winter, and manufactured goods.
  • We are controlling a huge consumption that people rely on everyday to fulfill necessary means.

Water supply

  • Controlling water supplies will be the most helpful to our totalitarian society because water has become a major necessity for the US.
    • People cook, clean, transport, and drink water and to control this means to control one of their most primary needs.
    • Human beings can live without food for months, but they cannot live without water.
Workers’ unions
  • The labor union workers include teachers, police officers, mechanics, actors, janitors, doctors, writers, factory workers, etc. (3)
  • It is a major organization that protects their rights and rectifies their working conditions, and hourly wages. (3)
  • A collective bargaining agreement is also signed by every single employer to a union, which makes sure proper provisions such as wages, hours, conditions, vacation, sick days, benefits, etc., are present. (3)
  • They are needed to help the community with various things such as health, road works, the law, entertainment, etc.
  • Seizing control of this major organization means we can get hold of a huge population of people and influence their contracts so that it satisfies the way the leader wants it.
  • The people receiving aid from the workers will also get influenced. Hence, we will be able to have more than just the union workers in the palm of our hands.

Banking industry
  • Bank is a financial institution controlled by the government. It provides providing services to customers with private investments and funds.
    • controlling the bank will help distribute equal amount of income

Questions
a. Could a totalitarian society ever exist in the United States? Why or why not?
  • A totalitarian society could exist because in the US because the government has the power to make laws, regulations and rules and there is usually a dominant voice. That dominant voice can act as a dictator or an authoritarian. Moreover, a member from the Legislative Branch can act as a dictator one day, one of the members from the House of Representatives or the Senators. The President does not even have the power to pass proposals, the US Congress does. So, we can not say that the President can become a dictator. However, this is highly unlikely to happen any time soon because the US has been a democratic society for hundreds of years and our democratic minds will not tolerate one belief and following one person.
  • In the case of Hitler and Stalin, those two nations have already had a concurring opinion and attacked one group of people. There was already a nationalistic opinion and the two nations simply needed one leader to voice their opinions. This is not the case for the United States.
  • It will not turn into a totalitarian society for a while.
  • There is definitely a possibility for it to become one in the near future.

b. Is a totalitarian society free of crime, poverty and national security threats
better than a free society plagued with crime, poverty and threats of attacks? Explain reasons.
  • A totalitarian society would attack crime and create more order by using more police officers or maybe even military control. The punishments might also be more strict because for every crime, this society would want punishments to intimidate people not to become criminals.
  • There would be more poverty because a totalitarian government might take away certain necessities if people were not abiding by the laws.
  • The national security threats would diminish because this society would use more military power for protection against any foreign attacks.
  • Security and order would probably be better than a free society, but poverty would probably be exacerbated if a totalitarian society were to exist.
c. How important is the leader or figurehead of a totalitarian regime? Can a totalitarian government exist without one?
  • The leader or figurehead of a totalitarian regime is extremely important because the leader determines everything from media to the laws. It will control all basic necessities and communication from person to person and country to country. The leader controls everything and has total control to dominate each individual's life.
  • A totalitarian government can not exist without one because the definition of a totalitarian government is a society that has one leader dictating a country. One person needs to take over a nation in order for a totalitarian government to exist, not a group of people.
Works Cited:
(1) “Different types of petroleum products.” All About Energy: Learn Everything About Energy... N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2009. <http://www.planete-energies.com/‌FrontOffice/‌Encyclopedie.aspx?contentId=4242abed-11bb-4c92-843c-9b878594d7ea>.
(2) Schlafly, Phyllis. “How the Government Influences Our Culture.” Northwestern University Law Review 102.1 (2008): 4. PDF file.
(3) Silverman, Jacob. “How Labor Unions Work.” How Stuff Works. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2009. <http://money.howstuffworks.com/‌labor-union2.htm>.